- OTTAWA -- Canada's Liberal
Party, led by Paul Martin, the Prime Minister, withstood a strong assault
from the recently reconstituted Conservative Party to cling to power after
a fractious national election campaign. But the Liberals will need the
support of a resurgent New Democratic Party (NDP) to survive in Parliament.
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- The Liberals won 135 seats, and together with the New
Democrats' 19 they will be one seat short of a majority.
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- The outcome of Monday's election will mean that the right-of-centre
Mr Martin will need to make concessions to the left both within his own
party and the NDP.
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- One of the first tests is likely to be the Liberals'
intention to join the United States in the development of a national missile
defence system which could lead to the weaponisation of space. The NDP
is opposed to both the National Missile Defence programme and Mr Martin's
promises to increase defence spending, preferring more resources to be
put into health care, environmental protection and help for cash-strapped
city governments.
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- Public opinion has been sharply divided about Canada's
relationship with the United States. The Conservatives wanted Canada to
join the Americans and British in the invasion of Iraq, and Mr Martin,
who was out of the government at the time, was more sympathetic towards
the American policy than the former prime minister, Jean Chretien.
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- The final votes contained several surprises and have
called into question the accuracy of the many pre-election public opinion
polls, which had consistently over-estimated Conservative and underestimated
Liberal strength. The Conservative wave that was supposed to wash over
Ontario, the most populous province with 106 of the 308 seats in the federal
Parliament, failed to happen.
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- The Liberals have traditionally done well in Ontario
and their campaign successfully linked the federal Conservative Party and
its new leader, Stephen Harper, to the neo-conservative policies of an
unpopular Conservative provincial government. That government, defeated
last autumn, had cut back on social services and education to finance tax
cuts for the more prosperous.
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- The polls had accurately predicted a major victory for
the Bloc Quebecois, the Quebec nationalist party which only ran candidates
in that province, with the long-term goal of leading the province to independence
from Canada. The party won 54 of the 75 seats in Quebec, which amounts
to a major affront to Mr Martin. But because the Liberals did better than
expected elsewhere, the Prime Minister will not need to make deals with
the Bloc to continue in power.
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- The Bloc Quebecois had also put its sovereignty objective
on hold, seeking voter support only for a mandate to defend Quebec interests
within the national government.
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- Canada has not had a tradition of formal coalitions when
no party has succeeding in winning a clear majority in Parliament, but
there have been informal understandings between the Liberals and the NDP
involving an agreed agenda.
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- © 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=536591
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